The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Failing masculinity - and terrorism?

I must admit, I'm baffled by the perspective offered in several recent articles about the alleged death of masculinity, the struggles of men to affirm themselves in a society that regards traditional masculinity as 'toxic', and institutions that relentlessly affirm women at the expense of men. I'm amazed that men have allowed this mess to creep up on them at all! I suppose it's like the boiling frog . . . if you put a frog in a pot of cold water, and gradually increase the temperature, it won't realize it's being boiled alive until it's too late (or so the old saw goes). Perhaps men have allowed the same thing to happen to themselves.

Be that as it may, John Robb has three very thought-provoking articles on his blog, 'Global Guerrillas'. In chronological order, they are:

In that context, I look at the 'nanny state' and its culture of promoting reliance on government for handouts, subsidies, entitlement programs and the like, and I ponder. I was raised in a culture that encouraged men to do anything and everything they could (honestly, that is) to support themselves and their families. Literally, one was not considered a man unless one exerted oneself heroically to 'bring home the bacon'. Sure, help was available, but it wasn't from the state - it was from your church, or local charities, all of whom knew who was striving with might and main to succeed, and who was a deadbeat. The former received help, and were expected to pass on that help to others in due course once they were back on their feet. The latter . . . not so much.

I can't help but think that such attitudes are toxic to something at the heart of what it means to be a man. I know I was regarded with astonishment when, back in 2005, I was told by a neurosurgeon that I'd never work a conventional job again, thanks to my injury, and I'd have to live on a disability pension. My instant - and vociferous - reaction was that that was no way for a man to live. It might take me time, but I would find a way to support myself once more. I have - through my writing - and I'm very grateful for the support you, my readers, have given me in the process. What shook me was that I was regarded as weird, way out there, for not simply sitting back and accepting handouts for the rest of my life. Things had certainly changed since my father and mother raised me!

In that light, a news report this morning claimed that thirteen counties in Alabama saw an 85% decline in the number of benefits seekers once a work requirement was reintroduced. So . . . am I to understand that seventeen out of every twenty of those on unemployment and other benefits were capable of working, of doing at least something to support themselves, but did not do so, preferring to accept handouts instead? If so, what does that say about how they were raised - and about our society, that tolerates such attitudes?

What does it say about people in Wisconsin - about men in Wisconsin - when Governor Scott Walker wants to introduce 'a new work requirement on childless adult Medicaid recipients and parents who receive food stamps', and require them to undergo drug screening - yet his plans are greeted with shock and horror by left-wing and progressive foes? How's this for hyperbole?

“It borders on immoral,” Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor said of the drug testing plans, in a failed attempt to stop it. She said Walker was engaging in a “meaningless contest to see how cruel and discriminatory we can be to the poor.”

I don't see a single damned thing about Gov. Walker's plans that's 'immoral' or 'cruel and discriminatory'. He wants to make sure that people applying for assistance actually need it, rather than want to piss it away on drug abuse; and he wants to make them do something positive in exchange for the assistance provided. How is that bad? Kindly explain that to me in words of one syllable. I don't see it at all.

In my younger days, no man worth his salt would behave like those welfare recipients in Alabama or Wisconsin . . . but today, it seems, that's just too old-fashioned for words.

For that matter, what about the declining number of men in college, compared to women? It seems entirely rational to me. If you make college campuses so female-friendly that men are regarded as toxic, potential rapists, emotionally insensitive, and so on, why are you surprised when those men take their obviously unwanted presence elsewhere? I'd do the same thing in a heartbeat. If you treat me like dirt, I'm going to get out from under and leave you to lord it over nothing at all, while I get on with making a better life for myself somewhere else. I won't even bother to punch you in the snoot for your temerity. You aren't worth it.

I look at all those factors . . . and then I read John Robb's comments about terrorism in the West being a failure of masculinity . . . and I wonder. Have we, in destroying traditional masculinity, created our own terrorist problem? Is this their way of 'punching in the snoot' those whom they regard as having denigrated, or downgraded, or 'failed' them? Don't think of it in terms of Islamic terrorism, either. It goes far wider than that. Consider last month in Portland, or yesterday in Orlando. Were the perpetrators 'failed men'?

7 comments:

Society as a whole has been telling men that we are weak, ineffectual, and stupid for the last 30+ years. A look at American television (which I increasingly do not do) shows flaccid fathers with smart-aleck children - usually female - who continually disrespect & speak down to the dads. Then it was wives who were sarcastic & portrayed as smarter/wiser than their husbands. And we wonder why some males have withdrawn ... but I wasn't raised that way.

Failed men, raised by failed mothers, who were schooled by failed teachers, in failing universities, all under the watchful eye of failed churches and a failed government. There's plenty of blame to go around. Not for you or for me, of course.

Men are the proverbial "canary in the coal mine". We have passed the tipping point of having too many people and not enough "make work" jobs to go around. Even if every man was a good writer, how many wordsmiths can society really support? I think we are about to find out.

Society has always placed women and children first. Is it really surprising to see men as the first ones drowning?

Don't forget how Welfare has encouraged fatherless families by giving more money if the dad is not there.I don't have a problem with drug tests, or showing ID to vote. But I am from a different era, too.

I forget who it was who said it, but "Anyone who can say 'Welcome to McDonalds - May I take your order" is employable. They have no business being on disability. If the person has been medically examined is is deemed not capable of focusing on a task or is physically unable to work, they qualify for disability to me.

Here in Madison WI, the mayor made it basically illegal for panhandlers to interact with the occupants of a vehicle. Naturally, the supplicants moved along to infest other areas. This explains why my local grocer now has panhandlers at the traffic light almost constantly during peak traffic hours. There is a prominent "help wanted" sign about 20 feet from said worthies. I asked the customer service desk for a job app to give to the guy leaning on the traffic light pole. I was told "Don't bother. The manager offered him a job but he refused, as he made up to $200 per day in donations".